


Guardian Angel

by Iggy_Of_Fans



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs Help, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Bashing, Alya Césaire Bashing, Bad Parenting, F/M, Guardian Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Torture, Lila Rossi Bashing, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Deserves Better, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22090699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iggy_Of_Fans/pseuds/Iggy_Of_Fans
Summary: When Paris fails, it fails miserably. An emotional terrorist is taking advantage of people's misery and pettiness, and in the only person willing to hold onto her ideals is all alone.A look at how Akumatizations and Miraculous Cures would affect an entire city.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne, Tim Drake/Raven
Comments: 14
Kudos: 441





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello All!  
> I originally posted this on Tumblr, and it was a big hit. I was asked to put it here, and AO3 finally stopped hating me, so here we are. I am re-writing the story a bit to include more information and will also put the songs that inspired this fic.  
> Also, please note that Marinette was only 12 years old when she received her Miraculous.  
> This was written right after Chameleon. Also, Befana happened before Riposte in this.

Trigger warning for torture and sexual harassment and possible rape. 

It was Marinette’s 13th birthday where Befana gets Akumatized and Marinette has since been much more careful about how she reacts to situations. So there’s no Riposte or Reverser and Dark Owl is completely Alya and Chat, Frightingale is because of Chloe and so on. 

Paris is getting really bad. People are becoming completely indifferent to consequences because The Cure always fixes everything. People are becoming worse to each other, are allowing themselves to become Akumatized for pretty much everything, because they’re never held accountable. To the teens in Marinette’s school it’s even become a badge of honour. They use their akumatizations for pet names and couple names and bragging about how close they got to their end goal. 

When Lila does come back, and she turns the class, she fuels the akuma craze, encouraging others to bully Marinette because she never got Akumatized and whispering that she obviously works with Hawkmoth. She turns around and praises Adrien, feeding his ego into thinking he’s right in everything because he also never got Akumatized. 

Marinette stops ever pulling Hero’s from her class, and Chat then starts to refuse to show up for fights because she still won’t date him and Marinette can only rely on Vipereon and Ryouko (who both show up way earlier because she can’t rely on Alya and Nino, and because she never made a bad impression on Kagami), and so she fights alone for the most part.

So for a full year she’s alone both as a hero and at home. She’s been training hard with Master Fu, because even the Miraculous magic won’t keep him alive much longer, and so Marinette has more stress on her shoulders. On top of that her commissions are taking off with Clara Nightingale and Jagged Stone but she’s starting to resent fashion. 

Things come to a head the week before her 14th birthday. She’s been tracking how fast the magic butterflies can fly, taking note of time the victim became Akumatized and then triangulating the base for Hawkmoth. She’s talking to Fu about what to do, since her first guess was right, and the butterflies come from Agreste. Fu is about to tell her that Adrien is Chat when she gets a surprise call from Alya. She takes it and finds out her ‘friends’ all want to throw her a party. She’s excited and takes off immediately to where they are. Meanwhile, Lila made a big lie about Marinette hurting her and told the class the only way to cheer her up is to hurt Marinette and make it stick. 

So When Marinette gets close to where they said they would meet her, the whole class ambushed her. They hurt her really bad, maybe carving the word b**** into her arm or burning her or branding her or something. Max films the whole thing to show Lila and make her happy and maybe get a date. Marinette is left in the dirt, hurt and alone and broken. 

Meanwhile also, Lila has been telling Adrien thay Marinette is in love with him, and that she would be in that area, and that she’s waiting for him to make a move and that even if she says no, she loves him and will want him. So he goes there, unaware she’s just been tortured and when he finds her he just goes for the deep end (no idea how far it gets) 

He does take her back to the bakery as Chat when he’s done at least. The next day Marinette drags herself to Master Fu’s place and he does his best to administer first aid and get the bleeding to stop. She stays there until late into the night, when she uses Klakki to break into the Agreste mansion and take back Plagg and the Miraculous book. But when she finds the book she also finds Nooroo and Dusuu in the safe. So she takes them and calls the police, making sure that Officer Raincomprix gets arrested to for obstruction of justice. Lila and the Mayor quickly get arrested too. She also has the tape from Max and they all get looked into. Marinette goes to Fu and he reveals he’s dying, and gives her the box and what money he has at that moment and tells her to get far away and hide and check back with him in three days. 

So Marinette goes to Gotham, because no one will look twice at an Orphan in Gotham, and she has the Kwamis help her with her paperwork, and she moves into a tiny bachelor suite in the “bad” part of Gotham, gets a couple of jobs at a Café (where she sells her family’s macaroons) and at a grocery store. She goes to Gotham Academy, but is homeschooling and only goes in for labs and exams. 

Three days later she goes back as Ladybug to check on Master Fu and her family. She finds out Lila has been deported and Adrien has been calling for Marinette to “prove his innocence” because he had no idea his father was Hawkmoth. But Gabriel named Lila as his helper and she named Adrien as helping her. The class is all facing juvy and in Alya’s case, she’s facing adult prison time. Bustier and Damoclese are both arrested for taking bribes, allowing bullying to get so out of hand, for allowing a student to carry the weight of everyone’s sins when she herself did nothing. Her parents are also facing prison for willful negligence, they never even called her in missing, they just moved into her room and ignored the fact she was missing. 

She goes to Master Fu, and he’s dying and he tells her to use Noroo or Trixx to make his body look like Marinette’s and bring it to the cops as the final nail. She stays by his side until he passes and she does as he asks and uses Trixx to make sure all the injuries are there that she has and finally takes the body to the police. They rule it as a first degree murder by her classmates. When Adrien finds out that Marinette is dead he snaps and blames Ladybug for not healing her, and he starts seeing Marinette’s “ghost” and it tells her that she wants to be with him and that she wishes he hadn’t lost his Miraculous and all he has to do is track down Ladybug and wish her back. He realizes then that he’s always loved Marinette, not Ladybug, and this is all Ladybug’s fault because Ladybug is jealous Adrien moved on. 

Marinette leaves Paris, never wanting to go back. She starts going to school and working and then her home gets broken into. The Miraculous are all okay, because Trixx hid them under an illusion, but Marinette decides she needs a guard dog. The dog she gets is retired police dog Captain. Things proceed with her working and going home and studying. She no longer wants to work in fashion because the Agreste family ruined it for her. She’s healing slowly and she can afford health care so she has a lot of scars from what they did to her. Then one day she’s walking home late from the grocery store, she’s wearing a slash resistant leather jacket, one of her last designs. She gets seen by Robin, who decides there’s something special about her and walks her back to her home, only finding out her name is Marinette Fu and she’s an orphan. 

The next day she has an exam at Gotham Academy, and of course, it’s the same Day the Joker decides that he’d like to use the rich children to cause some chaos. So when the alarms start blaring, Damien tries to escape to change but gets caught by some back up goons. He’s right in the way of Marinette’s escape route and he gets injured for his cheek. She also immediately recognizes him as being Robin (the height, the build, the voice, the eyes). So she steps in, quickly takes out the two goons and gives Damien first aid. And when the Joker comes to I vestigate why no one is answering him she leads Joker away from Damien and right into Nightwing. She grabs the first paramedic she sees and takes her to Damien, and then quickly leaves the school. 

Damien, who is recovering for a week at home, digs more into Marinette but can’t find anything past two weeks ago. So when he’s fit enough to go out as Robin he goes to her place because she might be an assassin or something. But when he gets there he hears her singing a sad song and he doesn’t notice she turns and sees him until she opens the window and asks him why he’s there. He admits he looked her up and wanted to know who she really was. She admits her parents are alive in Paris but not able to take care of her, and the man she named herself after died recently and he was her only friend. She says she’s just here to start over because she hates Paris and France and Gotham is as far removed from anything Paris stood for that she feels safe here despite the danger. He accepts that for now but asks for a list of songs she likes, since he’s never listened to or like music until that night. 

And so a weird friendship is born. Marinette sticks papers on the outside of her window with song lists and he leaves a reply of which songs he liked from the last list. This goes on for a while when Marinette has a science lab she needs to go to school for and she runs into Damien, who says thank you for saving him and she asks him why he didn’t just add it into the notes on her window. And he realizes “she knows” and is internally freaking out but she just walks around him to the science classrooms. He catches her after (he may have skipped class) and asks her to lunch. She’s really jaded at this point but she agrees as long as she picks and she takes him to the café she works at, where Captain is that day. He asks her how she knew and seriously,she could not tell anyone and who she is. She gives him her old name before she starts her shift for the afternoon and sends him off with her batfam macaroons. 

And their friendship continues like that. He starts asking questions on his notes to her and she asks him some in return. He realizes while this is going on that she has no idea he’s Damian Wayne and he falls in love, slowly but surely. He never does look up Dupain-Cheng because it puts them on even footing and he likes it like that. He also starts changing at home, calling his brothers Richard, Jason and Timothy, and he’s less violent in fights or when sparring. He plans better and becomes more creative in his fights, injuring less and focuses more on civilians (because dammit, Marinette could be among them and how dare anyone hurt Marinette more, because he’s not an idiot, he knows she’s been hurt, even though they’ve never talked about it). 

Finally Tim can’t take it anymore and asks Damien a month after he became friends with Marinette why he’s so different. And Damien knows Marinette hates liars and he’s trying to be the best version of himself so tells them he met a girl and that he’s been listening to music (and secretly writing a song) and he wants to be better because he’s realizing they’re not just gonna kick him out and back to his mother and he’s not the only one with a sh** childhood and there are ways he can be himself without being violent. And he wants to prove he’ll be a good hero. The men are so awed. And then he tells them she figured out he’s Robin in like two seconds but has no idea he’s a Wayne and they ask for her background info. He gives them her old name, but is reluctant to see but they want to meet her and need make sure she’s not bad news. So they find the video of her torture and Ladybug carrying her dead body and they find out about Hawkmoth and everything. The next night Damien knocks on her window and invites her for dinner. 

To be Continued…


	2. Of Dinners and Heroes

Marinette agrees, so long as she can bring Captain along, and as long as she’s not working that evening and they settle the date for Friday evening. Now he knows her past and he’s furious with Paris and wants to protect her even more. But he also doesn’t want to treat her differently because he’s terrified that when she finds out he’s a Wayne, she’ll freak out. 

Marinette makes BatFam macaroons for the dinner, puts Captain on a leash, and puts all the Miraculous jewels into her purse and the kwami all seal into their jewels before she goes down to meet Damian, who took a nondescript car with his father to pick her up. Bruce is very careful with his movements, and it tips her off that they all know about her past, but she’s grateful that she doesn’t have to be as on guard, especially with Captain being as protective as he is. When they drive towards the city limits she’s not freaking out because she knew Damien was well off but when she sees Wayne manor she does have an internal freak out (because how the hell did she NOT know, but she sees Damien worrying and she realizes that he definitely looked her up before today so they could make sure she’s not a threat, so she takes his hand and smiles. So they get to the Manor and Alfred opens the door to greet them. But Dusuu senses her old bird, her last good memory before Hawkmoth and she flies out of her purse and hugs Alfred’s cheek, crying how much she missed him. Everyone is having a private freak out now (because Bruce and Damien are both thinking “what the f*** is that?” and Marinette is freaking out because “dammit Dusuu, be more careful! Now what am I supposed to tell them?!” and Alfred is so happy, because loosing Dusuu has been haunting him for decades and he’s so happy she’s okay and back). 

“can we take this inside before I explain?” Marinette asks quietly, and Damien takes her hand, smiles, and leads the way inside. Alfred snaps back to butler mode and takes her impressive leather jacket, and the macaroons, and leads the way to the family room where everyone (Stephanie, Barbara, Cassandra, Dick, Jason and Tim) and everyone is looking at Dusuu like “wtf”. Bruce introduces his family and Damien introduces Marinette (who, when she sees Dick knows he’s Nightwing and realizes they’re all in the business and how lucky are they that they have so much support!). She is about to explain when Alfred takes the lead surprisingly and explaining his time with Dusuu during the army and how he lost her in a mission. He explains about the magical ability she holds and what she represents. Dusuu is just on cloud nine to be reunited with her favorite ever birdie and won’t let go of him. So Marinette hands over the broach and smiles, saying that when the time comes, she will be taking it back, since she is the guardian of the box. Tikki jumps out at that point and says that as guardian she shouldn’t be handing Miraculi so easily, without properly testing someone, and Marinette turns Tikki around to look at Dusuu’s crestfallen face and Tikki relent, but says she needs to keep a close eye on Alfred, no skipping her duties. She nods and, with the entire family staring at her she gets embarrassed and transforms into Ladybug. But her costume is completely different, because she’s so different. It’s now a black leather suit with ladybug wing like Cape and hood, and gloves with the spots. Instead of five dots though, she has ten, showing that she’s grown more powerful. She explains the happenings of Paris from her point of view, letting certain things like the torture be untouched, because she just wasn’t ready. Everybody is so impressed she did all that alone and while injured and they want to adopt her and maybe use her skills, but she’s not ready to suit up for a fight. She’s been through too much, hurt too deeply and they all understand (Barbara is instrumental in making them back the hell off). 

And so they have dinner like this once a week, for a month, with the entire family coming together and falling a little in love with Marinette. 

One day Jason asks if they still own the pent house in Gotham, and if so, why don’t they give it to Marinette (because she refuses to live off their charity and become part of the family because she looks the same and all it would take is one picture to Paris and she’s screwed). They all agree and bring it up, saying it’s closer to school, more secure (with a panic room that alerts them to her and let’s her help out behind the scenes on missions) and has a safe for the jewels. So she thinks about it, but her house gets broken into again that evening while she’s at work, and Captain gets injured (not badly, but it’s enough) and so she moves into the penthouse, where the Wayne men tried to make it more to her taste and expanded the balcony to have a large garden, installed a doggy door for Captain and they even made a sewing room for Marinette, because she used to love it and maybe one day she will again. Bruce surprises her more by handing over the property to her completely, and saying she will still have to pay utilities (not that she will know that they are greatly reduced) but she will be safe at last. 

Marinette keeps working and homeschooling and now she sometimes helps Alfred and Oracle on computers, making strategies for them to keep more people safe. She also trains in self defense with the family once a week, so they worry less about her. She is starting to heal slowly. And then a world ending event happens. Who knows what, but the Justice League and Teen Titans are completely overwhelmed (maybe Raven’s dad makes a comeback) 

“Does anybody have a plan zed?” Batman asks, completely bloody and exhausted. Most of Metropolis. Star City and Gotham is already leveled. Over the coms they hear a brand new voice “I do”. It’s definitely feminine. Superman freaks out a little “Who is this?!”. 

“On your left” she answers (yes, avengers reference) 

Marinette jumps out in the black cat suit, launches herself into battle and decimate the enemy in less than five minutes. She comes walking over slowly afterwards and the league is just like “who is she? Who brought her in?” and slowly, one by one the league looks to the bat’s and they’re all looking at Damien, who is looking at Marinette like she is the answer to the universe and everything good and right in the world. She sees the destruction and the wounds on the hero’s and does a one to another transformation into Ladybug and does a mass cure, healing the heroes, fixing the buildings and bringing back the dead before passing out in Robin’s arms. He was quick to take off his Cape and cover her before anyone could see her face. The bat’s take her back home to let her rest and the other heroes come over outside of costume to meet the new BatKid. 

And in Paris? Adrien hears about the Ladybug cure in Gotham and decides he will get his princess back now.


	3. Justice League meets Miraculous, Adrien breaks more than his mind

Adrien has been seeing Maria’s ghost everyday but doesn’t show it. He’s been planning to get the Miraculi of the ladybug and the black cat, so he can wish Mari back, and make a perfect world for her, where Alya, Nino and even Lila and Chloe all get along and his mother and father are well and together (when the police searched the mansion they found Emily Agreste’s near corpse and brought her to the hospital. Turns out all she needed was proper medical care, but she was trying to use Dusuu to be free from Gabriel forever and by extension Adrien because he was just like his father in her eyes) and everything is happy in his world. He thinks it’s Marinette’s mission to him to make sure everyone is happy and it’s what she wants. He is so far gone, and thinks the Miraculous Cure and his wish will make everything okay and so is willing to kill whoever he needs to. So he breaks out of prison, killing the guards for the “name of love”. He then goes to find Nino and Alya, to help him get Mari back. And Alya says yes. She wants revenge on Ladybug for letting her get put into jail, she’s just doing her job! She still thinks Lila was innocent, but she also feels bad that Marinette commited suicide, because she thinks that they could all just be friends. So she thinks Adrien’s demented plan will turn everything perfect, with her two besties finally getting along. Nino is finally realizing how demented everything had turned, and he says he’ll help, but plans on telling Ladybug as soon as he can. 

*_*_*

Marinette wakes up at Wayne Manor, Damien is asleep in a chair next to the bed in some sweats and a t-shirt. His wounds were healed but he’s still dead tired. At the foot of the bed lies Captain, the kwamis all cuddled up in his fur. Next Marinette notices she’s wearing a shirt (likely Damien’s since it falls only off one shoulder. The scar on her arm where the kids from Paris injured her is plainly visible, a big pink puffy reminder that she isn’t good enough for this wonderful family that have been taking care of her. Damien wakes up suddenly when she tries to move and looks so relieved she’s awake. He immediately gets up and asks her if he can hug her, because he’d been so worried. She asks why and finds out she’s been near comatose for almost a week. The Kwamis and Captain all wake up and join her, hugging her and checking her over. She realizes just how much energy it took out of her to bring back all the people who died and rebuild three cities. She asks him why he still cares when he’s seen her scars and he looks at the arm she holds out. He asks her is she trusts him and when she nods, he takes his shirt off, revealing his back full of scars from his early childhood training and his chest from his hero work. He tells her that she made him accept himself, scars, flaws and all, because she had always treated him with kindness, no matter which mask he wears. She’s so touched, and she hugs and cries into his shoulder, because no one has ever accepted Marinette so completely. Eventually they realize how hungry they are and Damien throws his shirt back on and grabs a nicer, long sleeved shirt for Marinette and some shorts that fit her like capris. 

Downstairs at lunch, the entire bat family is sitting, like zombies, dead tired and worried about their littlest member when Damien and Marinette join them. They are all out of their seats and swarming around Marinette, asking her if she’s okay and what she needs to feel better (tea? Chocolate? Dessert?) and she finally feels loved and just asks for whatever food is already made. Alfred has been making any of her favorites he knows of every day hoping she’d wake up and he brings all the leftovers out for her to enjoy. He even tried his hand at French macaroons and she tears up because she’s so grateful. While at lunch, Bruce tells her that the league wants to meet her, especially Wonder Woman, since her mom used to be a Ladybug before. Marinette worries about this but Bruce assures her that she would be well guarded with at least one of the Wayne’s around, and Captain and Titus there as well. She was also allowed to come fully transformed so that she can just disappear whenever she felt the need to. So she smiles and agrees to meet them, and they plan a huge Gala for the League and Teen Titans to meet their newest little member, and he explains it will be civis for everyone else and why.

A week later, (Marinette has been going back to the pent house because she still feels better about it, and she needed clothes) at 11 in the morning, Bruce started welcoming member of the League into his home. They came dressed in casual wear, hidden under illusions for some of the more outlandish looking members. They are all comfortable in the Gala room when Damien walks in, guiding Marinette (dressed in her own design, a casual summer dress with a Mandarin Collar and long red lace sleeves with black polka dots and a black skirt that fades to red at the shoulders, and a simple black mask) and everyone’s jaw drops. Bruce and the batfam all walk to the entrance and Bruce introduces “Guardian Angel” a play on Damian’s nickname for her and her duty as guardian of the Miraculi (and because to them she really is a guardian angel, because she’s always there when they need her most, or just seems to know when they need her). Embarrassed but not willing to let her mood be ruined, Marinette smiles shyly at them all. The rest are still trying to pick up their Jaws. This beautiful little mite is the one that saved their lives? Wow! And is Damian actually SMILING? Wtf? 

Diana is the first to recover and goes to meet the newest Ladybug, saying she’s practically her sister because her mother had been Ladybug once and she wanted to know everything she could. Marinette tells the League about what happened in Paris, and at first they deny that they could’ve missed that. But when they check their phones they’re shocked. With the Mayor being imprisoned, the news finally leaked world wide and sure enough, it was all there, every detail. They were shocked, seeing how the continued exposure desensitized the citizens and how horrible people acted towards each other. They all apologized to her for not stepping in, but commended her for her ingenuity, leadership skills, and ability to keep level headed even though she’s so young. She smiles and meets everybody, guessing who most of their superhero personas were by herself. She is never without Damian at her arm, getting anything she could want, and the Teen Titans and Super Boy notice this. They’re all shocked at Damian’s turn about, how he reacts to the slightest twitch or facial change, how he steps in and changes the subject, or how he leads her exactly where she needs to be. When lunch is served, Alfred makes sure all her favorites are there, and when the dancing starts, the batfam all dance with her, but Damian doesn’t even look at Raven when she asks for a dance, simple humming before stepping back in to escorts Marinnette off. 

In Paris things are taking a dark turn. Max refuses to help them, having learned this lesson, but they manage to kill his parents and only helping them get to Gotham will make his life better. He manages to hack the Agreste plane and autopilot it to USA. Once there, the two crazed teens and two reluctant teens start making their way across to Gotham, leaving a trail of dead bodies behind. The closer they get the more despicable. They stop off in Metropolis and meet Lex Luther, who is willing to give them whatever they want to kill the new heroine in Gotham. Nino, with the help of Max, is finally able to send a warning out to Gotham, a video that he sends out to everyone who lives in Gotham that Adrien is coming, that he used to be Chat Noir and that he’s completely lost his mind. 

As the Gala is coming to an end, Tim’s phone beeps with a notification that one of his flagged words got picked up on. He plays the video for everyone to hear and Marinette becomes paler by the second.


	4. For Better or For Worse

The batfam immediately jumped into action, Dick rushes to the penthouse to pick up the Miraculous box, Tim runs to the batcave to locate where they might be, Jason goes immediately for his guns and Alfred transforms on the spot for the first time in 3 decades. Bruce makes sure the rest of the League has their costumes handy, while Barbara calls her father to set up a perimeter preemptively and minimize casualties. Damien holds Marinette close, wanting nothing more than to go get his sword and cut them down now, but not wanting to leave Marinette alone. Diana stands beside her also, looking at Marinette’s pale face. She asks her quietly, will you run? Or fight? She says it in a steely voice that pulls Marinette from the tortures of the past and make her consider her surroundings. She will not stand by idly. She MUST protect the Miraculi. And she will not be a useless bystander. Her face still pale but set, she smiles to Diana. Dick chooses that moment to Portal back with the box and Marinette jumps on it, pulling out the Snake for Dick, telling him to transform and put his costume over top. 

“if anything happens, this will give you a second chance. Use it as often as you need to, but know that you will need to recharge after” she then grabs another miraculous and asks him to pass it to Tim. She grabs the cat and gives it to Damien. “Transform or don’t, but make sure that ring is well hidden.” she grabs the dragon and calls Tikki to herself, asking her to change the shape. As she’s doing that she turns to Diana. “Diana Prince, can I trust you to protect the Miraculous I hand you? Will you make sure that no matter what, this Miraculous will never fall into the hands of darkness and evil?” Diana nodded solemnly. .“ I swear”. Marinette nodded, picking up the changed Dragon Miraculous and handed Diana the Miraculous she would protect, while she transformed herself. The suit was still mostly black, with a red cape, but the five circles on her Cape and gloves looked slightly different. Damien couldn’t place it, but something was different. Diana took her leave to quickly change. Damien turned to Marinette, still reluctant to leave her without a Wayne. Jason came in at that moment, nodding to Damien he then took the rest of the box and and led Marinette to the bat cave. Alfred was on the computer with Oracle already, Tim was trying to figure out how to hide the ears that came with his under costume, listening to the police scanner to see if they had any leads yet. The League was starting to gather and Damien as Robin materialized at Marinette’s side. 

“The situation we find ourselves in today is quite different. Few of us are masters at magic, let alone an ancient magic to do with gods. However, this is what we know: Adrien Agreste, former Chat Noir, has lost his mind and is coming here because he saw the Miraculous Cure from Guardian Angel two weeks ago. According to our public source, he wants the Miraculi of the cat and of ladybug to wish back a dead classmate and create a "perfect world” for himself. What that world looks like for the rest of us is anybody’s guess, but something I am unwilling to even entertain. With the permission from Guardian Angel we have the use of a few Miraculi at our hands. Angel? Do you have information to pass on?“

”I want everyone to remember that yes, we’re dealing with teenagers, but they’re not without their dangers. We’re not only dealing with the former Chat Noir, but also Rena Rouge. Neither of them were big planners, but Rena Rouge was sharp and observative, and we also know that they have the, unwilling it may be, help from a brilliant strategist and hacker. Max created a sentimental robot at age thirteen and can override street cams and home security. Alya is an aspiring journalist, she spent her every minute since our first appearance tracking us, trying to unmask us. We know from Nino’s message that they’ve got the backing from a metropolis villain, and that Adrien and Alya are more than slightly unhinged. That means there is very little they’re NOT willing to do" 

The next 20 minutes were spent planning, they were counting on robots and guns, so they put the more bullet resistant members at the front. The majority would remain back up, protect the Miraculi in the tower, and run interference to keep civilians safe. All the planning in the world would not prepare them for what they met at Gotham City outskirts. 

Nino was worried. He’d seen some weird and nasty things in Paris during Hawkmoth’s reign, but the fear he felt now eclipsed it all. Adrien was standing by the window at Luthor corp. He looked serene, a soft smile on his face. But his eyes weren’t seeing the Metropolis skyline. They were unfocused and every once in a while he’d nod his head, as if agreeing with a thought he’d just had. His smile would become a smirk, and he would look dangerous, like when he had killed Max’s parents. He’d been reluctant at first, Nino could tell. He’d hesitated. But then he’d turned his head, as if hearing something, nodded along, and then done what he had to. He’d turned back to sunshine child in a heartbeat, smiling reassuringly and telling Max that the Miraculous would bring them back, he just had to help them get it. The blood dripping down his shirt made the boy look far more deranged than reassuring. The fact he was looking over Max’s shoulder rather than at his face made it even worse. This pattern continued for a while. He’d hesitate, and a bit of the Adrien from the first day of school would shine through, but he’d hear something and he’d do it. He always turned back to the sweet boy next door afterwards, but everytime became easier for him do something atrocious. Fourteen victims later and now he just smiled, as if trying to reassure his victim that they’d be okay. Nino shuddered. What the heck was happening with Adrien? He looked to the other two in the room. 

Alya was glaring at a computer provided to them. She shuddered at Adrien’s behaviour as well, but she needed to get revenge. Ladybug had been her hero and then had turned around and had Alya arrested and Lila deported. And Lila could NOT be a liar. Because if Lila was a liar, that meant that Alya had ruined her reputation as a journalist, had fought with and hurt her friend for a nobody. And that was unacceptable. She was a journalist. She was never wrong!…. Except right now, when she was trying to prove Lila’s innocence. Now, as she researched all the amazing things Lila had done, all she was finding were the stories she herself posted. And videos debunking each and every claim. Even Lila’s mother had stated that they hadn’t left Paris once since landing. “Dammit! Lila is not a liar!” Alya screamed at her computer. 

“She won’t be when I make my wish” Adrien said, still smiling softly over Alya’s head. 

“What do you mean?” Alya’s voice was sharp. 

“Nothing” Adrien shook his head. 

“We’re ready to proceed” Lex Luther stated from the door, a sick smile on his face.

Max was ready to wet himself. Or have mental breakdown number five. This was insane! How could Adrien think any of this was okay? How could he think the Miraculi would fix all the damage he had done, when there was no proof it even worked outside of magic? Max looked fearfully towards Nino for reassurance, but there had been no reply so far from any heroes. Had they received the message? Were Nino and Max also in trouble by association? What was their plan to help the heroes? Looking out at the elaborate lay out of Luther’s hidden base, Max wasn’t sure if there was anything they could do. Looking at Nino’s pale face and Adrien’s serene smile was not at all reassuring.

This is bad, was the collective thought from the members of the League. Usually Luther was a one man (even if that man was Super) job. But this…. How had he gotten so many people under his thumb? When? Staring back at them were the faces of jot only Luther’s Army, but all surviving member of the League of Assassins, including Bane, and what looked like Scarecrow. Interspersed were some Luther Tec robots and hired guns.

“OH…. This is much worse than I thought”


	5. When it Rains

From the start the heroes knew they were at a disadvantage. The League of Shadows members were all trained to escape and bond, Bane alone would take several people to take down. Scarecrow was already starting to release his fear toxin, making it near impossible for some heroes to get within fighting distance of him. The robots are immune to heat vision and ice breath. On top of everything it seems Luther found out about the message Max and Nino sent and is keeping them behind in his tower. Their plan goes out the window quickly. The Assassins hold a grudge and they focus and flush out the batfam, forcing Robin to abandon Guardian Angel early in the fight. Red Robin went back to the cave to get a few vials of nerve toxin to subdue Bane and hopefully some of the others. As it stands, they don’t have much that will hold the highly trained assassins anyways, Wonder Woman’s rope being one of the few things forces her to leave active battle for prison guard duty. Nightwing watches as Beast Boy, who was left alone by Raven falls to the fear Toxin and some robots.

“second chance”. Nightwing jumps from the building he’s taken vantage from, pulling Beast Boy out of the way of wave of Robots. Beastboy is barely lucid anymore, fear toxin coursing through every corner of his mind. Nightwing comms Oracle to send someone for rounding up those too badly hurt or incapable of continuing battle. He goes back to scanning the battle “what am I missing? I see everyone…. Except Robin….. And… Raven?” he sees a flash of navy Cape and sees Raven crouching on the far side of an alley, watching a fight within… “what is she doing?" 

Now Raven had just wanted to give Robin a chance to grow up a little bit. For him to come into himself and be a little more open about himself with others. She missed her window it seemed, when the Parisian whore worked her way into the picture. Did Robin not realize she was only using him? Who the hell would believe that story? Besides, Raven could sense that she was impure. Tainted by the blonde wanting his classmate back. Being magical had its advantages, as she thought back to the Gala. She’d been hurt that Robin had brushed her off so casually, his eyes never straying from the temptress. Raven had been so patient, waiting for her opening, making sure to always be "less annoying than the banshees he deals with at school”, always there for him when he was around. She knew she just had foster that bit of “I don’t dislike you” into an “I love you”. She’d been close, she knew. She also knew that it was a risk going up to him in the gala. She’d dressed to the nines in a long white dress that brought out her hair and eye colour, put the slightest touch makeup to make her less pale. Only for him to not ever look at her. She’d been furious. And when the alert came and everyone scrambled to get changed, she just magiced her usual fight clothes on in a corner. So she knew that Robin had the black cat ring that the Parisians wanted. And she made it easy on the teens, sending the message to Luther that he’d been betrayed and that Robin had the cat ring and the whore had the earnings and to separate the two of them. She’d get the ring herself, and the girl would be easy to overrun from there. So when the battle started she simply walked away in the chaos, biding her time until Robin was completely isolated. The Parisian had said he would include her in his wish, to end up with Robin as hers. It was a win/win in her eyes. So when Robin’s katana got knocked away, she grabbed it and ran towards the whore, knowing that a confused Robin was taking off after her as well. 

Nightwing watched, horrified as Raven plunged his brother’s katana through Guardian Angel’s back, disappearing quickly for GA to turn around to the wide, terrified eyes of Robin. No! Robin ran to her, crying out, and just held her, trying to explain even as her life faded with nothing but hurt and betrayal in her eyes. Raven swooped in a second later, ripping the earnings from her and running towards the back of the siege, where the two teens waited. “second chance” Nightwing barely managed to choke out. 

The battle was not in their favour thus far. Superman couldn’t get a handle on the robots. These were obviously specifically created to counter his son, cousin and himself. How had Lex managed that? If that wasn’t enough, Superboy had been hit with the fear toxin. And while it didn’t affect them as strongly, his son was now shooting blind, and Superman could see the Flash working his way through the throngs, trying to get the heroes out of the way of the rogue laser beams. His son would surely be traumatized from the amount of casualties he was witnessing. With Wonder Woman guarding prisoners, Nightwing for some reason staying above the fight, only intervening when things get a little too close, and Red Robin doing calculations on the side, only occasionally swinging his staff to intercept and Raven being no where in immediate sight, and several people being taken out by fear toxins or Bane… things were definitely not in their favour. He decided to take his son down to metabolize the toxin without further injuring anyone, and then landed and did some floor work, taking out soldiers and assassins. It was only because he’d decided to land that he saw Raven going for Guardian Angel with a Katana. He shot forward immediately, intercepting the sword and knocking her out. Guardian Angel looked back, shock evident on her face as she looked at a hero she had trusted. “Thank God! I didn’t think I’d reach her in time!” Nightwing called, landing beside them. Guardian Angel made an OH face. Before frowning. “Why would she turn on us? Or go for me?” she asked. “She has a crush on Robin” Nightwing shrugged. Starfire had filled him in during one of their chats. Guardian Angel frowned and looked sad, but Robin snorted and glared. “She’s known me for years. Why go after me when I’m taken?" 

"She was biding her time, letting you” grow up"“ Nightwing said. 

"I was never going to change unless I had a reason to." 

The comms cracked to life, "I’m sorry Guardian Angel. The Miraculous you entrusted to me is gone” Wonder Woman stated. While they were distracted, the Assassins had over powered her, taking the earings. 

“Dammit! Nightwing, we need a second chance!" 

"I can’t! I have to refuel!" 

"Damn! Okay… Think, what do we have that can end this quickly? Red Robin, Oracle, what will take out the robots? Heat doesn’t work, neither does crushing them" 

"We’ve been analyzing them, they’re ridiculously easy to kill with some water in the right pocket. They’re just difficult to reach.” Red Robin stated. He’d joined the fray for real, moving his staff much faster than ever before, able to deflect bullets. 

“Okay, I have something for that. Nightwing, refuel and get ready just in case. Red Robin, I need to do something for me too. Here’s the plan everybody” Guardian Angel would let them feel like their victory was close. But this was far from over. 

Adrien smirked in victory when the familiar earnings landed in his hand. Halfway there. Half the heroes were taken out of the fight, and those still standing were weakened and injured. He admitted, it had been a clever trick to switch Miraculi. But he hadn’t seen the new costume and immediately knew she was faking somehow. It took a while to find out that the real Ladybug miraculous was with Wonder Woman. But the assassins had of course reported a bright red thing flashing around her once in a while. Maybe if she’d been transformed she would’ve been unstoppable. But she wasn’t and Ladybug had miscalculated. And now he held half of the answer to all his problems in his hands. He looked over to his left, where Marinette stood as always at his side. She smiled brilliantly at him, eyes bright. “I’ll hold you in my arms by tonight, Princess” he whispered to her, wanting so badly to cup her cheek, but knowing his hand would go right through her. He hated Ladybug with a passion. He considered transforming and joining the fray, but he had an insider that knew where the black cat was and would be bringing it to him soon enough. Really, Ladybug should know that he knows her best. Her silly tricks don’t work on him. Finally he heard over the comms from Bane. 

“I have Robin.” Excellent. 

“Bring me the ring!” he barked at Bane. 

“He doesn’t have one” ugh, incompetent baffoon! 

“Just bring all of him, I’ll carve it out of his flesh if I have to!" 

The end is finally here. He would get his wish and bring his love back to life and make the world perfect, just for them. 

As Guardian Angel issued orders, the heroes that were left scrambled around. She certainly had a presence to her. A comm was snatched from Scarecrow, who’d finally been taken down by the Flash, who was able to metabolize the toxin quickly enough to not be affected. And then the plan came to life. 

Alya watched as Robin was carried over, kicking and screaming still to Adrien and herself. When he stood in front of the shorter blonde teen he spat in his eyes and kicked up into his face before Bane retrained him more completely. 

"It’s too bad I promised that chick she could have you. Once my wish is complete, people like you will be absolutely useless” Adrien stated. The world would be perfect for his Princess. Alya smirked as she started taking off layers of costume to see where the ring was, starting with his gloves. She admitted, she was enjoying this part. She knew that Adrien would wish Nino to be her perfect boyfriend, but Nino had betrayed them today, and she was allowed to look, right? When the left glove came she saw it and grabbed for it. 

“Cataclysm” Robin muttered, making it impossible to take off without disintegrating. 

“Che, using my own old trick? How pathetic. You know I only have to wait five minutes before I can take it off anyways” Adrien scoffed. Robin smirked. 

“Except my time limit is much longer than five minutes, you Rapist scum” Robin growled out. Adrien scowled, but Marinette put her hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly.

“He isn’t more powerful than you my love. He’s bluffing” her voice whispered to him. He nodded and smirked. 

“Well, we’ll see about that, won’t we? I just have to wait out your transformation. Let’s go, we’ll take him with us and kill him on the way” Adrien ordered. Robin became slightly paler, his smirk fell and he glared. 

“Coward” he spat. 

“I’m taking what’s rightfully mine and making the world a better place. No need to make it perfect for everyone. Don’t worry, you’ll have your pretty Raven girlfriend. In hell” he said, walking towards a helicopter, away from the carnage behind him. As he was walking he was hit from the side by a baton, breaking his rib cage and throwing him into the side of a building. When he didn’t get up, Alya rushed to his side, checking on him. He would never fully recover from that hit. His head was bleeding profusely, his side looked slightly caved in, and his arm was awkwardly bent. 

“Let’s see how much you like drowning, with no help in sight” Guardian Angel whispered, “Water Dragon." 

Her form disappeared and the street started flooding, short-circuiting the robots, washing away the rest of the toxin and cleaning the streets from blood. Alya scrambled to keep afloat, barely holding Adrien up with her. The flood didn’t get high, nor did it last long, but it was enough to make her tired. When the water receded, Bane was captured in Wonder Woman’s lasso, the assassins captured and surrounded by Superman, boy and girl. Scarecrow was knocked out and tied up by Batman. The robots all dead. Alya made to grab the Miraculous to transform, only for her hand to fall through smoke. Robin landed beside Guardian Angel, pushing down the hood of his costume and revealing the orange ears of the fox miraculous. Red Robin landed beside him, two black triangles barely showing in his dark hair. Guardian Angel picked held up her hand and Tikki flew from inside the building that Adrien was knocked into with the earnings in hand. 

"It’s over Alya. You need to learn that consequences really do exist” Guardian Angel said. The police GCP decided that moment to swarm the street , piling the criminals into reinforced vehicles.


	6. What is Will Always Be

Damian had seen several of the magic users take to corners in the ballroom, and so when Jason returned fully costumed he took the Cat Miraculous and ran to the cave. He found Tim about to transform and stopped him. 

“Take this one and transform instead” he said, “the weapon is a staff anyways. Give me the fox. I have an easier time hiding the eears under my hood. And my costume is brighter. No one will look twice at orange thrown in.”

“That is…. Brilliant…. No One would believe you switched to a baton, and I don’t know if we can switch weapons… Not that a flute is all that… Useful.” Timothy said, handing the fox tail to Damien. They transformed quickly and threw on their costumes, finishing just in time for the others to start making their way down. Timothy tried to make it look like he was hiding something much larger than the little black triangles that blended into his hair, while Robin made sure his hat stayed securely on.

“The situation we find ourselves in today…." 

When the JL saw that they had two missing teens Alfred decided to step in. He was out of practice, but he was sure he could help the teens. He looked to Oracle and begged the Miraculous box to open for him. It seemed his prayer was heard, at least somewhat, as the butterfly Miraculous fased up through the box. 

"Oracle, take this. I will need your help to save those kids” Alfred handed her the Miraculous. Noroo awoke and looked at the woman, sitting patiently in a wheelchair and he gasped. 

“oh my poor fairy! Who hurt you so?! I was hurt before too, do you want to help each other heal?” Noroo was quite young in comparison to the others in the inner circle and had very little experience out in the world. But he was eager to redeem himself in the eyes of the world. Barbara was shocked, but nodded. When the light faded, she sat in her chair with new purpose. A butterfly was born from her good intentions to help and landed on her hand. “Magic is so weird” she mumbled, before she thought of how to help the kids. She’d seen the fear in the shorter boys, but the taller one was determined to do the right thing. Him then. She powered up the butterfly, watching as Alfred concentrated hard as well. With a wave of his fan, the butterfly and feather took off to Metropolis. 

… “Here’s the plan, everyone. I need Tim to create an illusion of Robin to get close to Adrien and Alya. Then-" 

"Sorry to interrupt Angel, but I don’t fight with a staff” Robin stated, lifting his hood slightly to reveal the long fox ears. He dropped it and Guardian Angel looked shocked for a second. 

“You brilliant, brilliant man!” she called, “Okay, new plan. We need a comm from their end. Can anyone do an impression of someone? Like Bane or something?”

“That would be me!” Red Hood called through the comms, shooting another assassin between the eyes. 

“Perfect! Robin, use the mirage to create a ring under your left glove, make it real. You will have to be able to fake a cataclysm midway through, can you do that?” Robin just nodded his head, pulling the flute out from under his Cape and creating a perfect Bane replica. The battle still raging produced the perfect cover for them. 

“ Now, make it look like he’s dragging you, don’t fight too hard, or your illusion will vanish. Superman, get the real Bane and at least break his comm. Take the nerve toxin from Red Robin. Someone get the Red Hood the enemy communicator. Wonder Woman, assist Superman. Supergirl and Superboy. Are you recovered enough to take the ground troops out? Perfect. Remember Robin, you’ll have to make an illusion of the ladybug earrings too. Tikki knows to run and hide as soon as he’s distracted." 

In Metropolis, Max had long since gone from scared to catatonic. Barely breathing and too terrified to speak. He’d been separated from Nino after their message was discovered. He was as good as dead. 

Nino on the other hand kept tugging at his binds. There is a way out. Ladybug and Marinette would’ve found one. By Wayzz he hated himself. Why the hell had he let Lila get in the way of years of friendship? How had he believed the utter crap that came out of her mouth? 

Luther had decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to kill them since Adrien planned to just resurrect them with his wish, so he left them tied (and beaten and bloody) in a couple of offices on the top floor.. Nino glared at the door, anger coursing through him. 

"Justice, I am Fairy Oracle, from Gotham. I can help you and your friend escape from not only this maniac, but away from the ones you once called friends." 

"And I am Påfugl. I will lend you a companion to aide in your escape. If you accept our aide, unlike when you were Akumatized, you will remember and have ultimate control of your actions. What do you say?" 

"I accept” Nino whispered. Immediately a green light overtook him. He felt the new powers coursing through him, but looking down he didn’t look like his outlandish Bubbler form, but rather a bit like the American heroes, with a simple green spandex suit. He flexed his muscles. He didn’t look too different from usual, didn’t feel too different. But the binding broke from his muscles like glass. He wondered what the power up was hidden in. He hadn’t seen the butterfly… Shrugging he looked to the door. He knew roughly that Max was in another office to the right of his own door. He also knew he had a minimum of four guards to fight through. He looked around for the companion he was supposed to receive.

“Look outside” a voice whispered through his head. He looked and saw a falcon flying in the distance, “when you’re ready, jump. We will catch you." 

Oh… Okay. He looked at the door and checked the slit to see if it was locked. Of course it was. Okay. Let’s see how strong he really was. He yanked the door with all his might, pulling the door clear off the wall. Oops. The guards turned to look at this unknown and lifted their guns. Well, so much for stealth, Nino thought as he threw the door at the two guards. He saw the two that had take Max running down the hall from his right and he quickly picked the door back up and threw it at them too before taking off towards the rooms at the end of the hall. He broke three doors before he found Max, gaping at him like he had two heads. 

"Let’s GO!” Nino yelled, breaking the rope on Max and jumping out the nearest window. 

“OH please dear God if I rot in jail, please just get us out of here” he whispered as he and Max fell fifteen stories and counting. Suddenly they abruptly stopped falling, claws closing in on their shirts as a giant falcon swooped over them and lifted off towards Gotham. Distantly Nino still heard the shouts from guards to shoot, but they were out of range. 

With Bane subdued with Neuro-inhibitors, the assassins placed into bullet proof glass boxes, Scarecrow on his way to Arkham, and a quick Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damage, the heroes were left with a passed out Adrien and a cuffed Alya. Commissioner Gordon wanted to have Adrien brought to the hospital for treatment and Alya to the police station for questioning. But the heroes wouldn’t be left out. Batman insisted he and Wonder Woman head to the hospital with Adrien. Red Hood nodded and asked Supergirl to accompany himself with Alya. Nightwing nodded to the passed out Raven, being held in cuffs by Star fire. Robin took hold of Guardian Angel and offered her a ride home on his Robin Bike. She smiled and was about to nod when a bird cry was heard from above. Looking up, everyone saw a giant falcon landing with two boys in its claws. They recognized them immediately as Max Kantê and Nino Lahiffe. Commissioner Gordon took them into custody as well, to decide what to do with them after, giving the heroes not joining for the Interrogation a rest. Guardian Angel thanked Comissioner Gordon, and went with Robin back to the batcave. 

Once there, along with several other heroes who were recovering, Marinette tuned in to the screen where Red Hood and Supergirl were with Alya. 

“Miss Cesaire, I am curious about what led you to follow Mr Agreste to Gotham” a translator sat in the room, turning her head to Alya. 

“Lila Rossi is not a liar! I’m a journalist, I know this! She can’t be a liar. That means Ladybug is and I just wanted her to admit Lila was telling the truth!” Alya screamed in frustration. The translator frowned as she spoke to Comissioner Gordon. 

“What does that have to do with this incident?" 

And so Red Hood gave the run down of Paris and what happened to Rossi, including her deportation and multiple lawsuits she was facing currently. The translator explained to Alya that the lawsuits were from both individuals who’d been lied about, including Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale, as well as the city of Paris on behalf of Ladybug. Alya paled with the words, shaking her head frantically. 

"Did you or did you not lead the planned attack on a former classmate on behalf of Lila Rossi?” Red Hood asked. But Alya was mute. She wasn’t wrong. She wasn’t wrong.

“ Marinette was just jealous” Alya whispered. She wasn’t wrong! “Marinette was just so jealous, she bullied Lila!” she finally screamed, “Ladybug could have fixed her!" 

"Has the girl mentioned, Marinette, ever shown bullying tendencies before? Been outwardly cruel or antagonistic when provoked or jealous?” Comissioner Gordon broke in. Alya froze. She thought about Kagami and Chloe and all the girls involved in Adrien’s life and tried to come up with an example. She lowered her head and shook it no. 

“ Has Ladybug ever been able to bring back a deceased that was killed outside of a magical attack by these Akuma?" 

"She cured Lila’s tinnitus!” she exclaimed. 

“the same Lila that lied about being bullied, and has lawsuits against her from multiple sources? You believe this to be a credible source? Let me ask this, has she ever cured anyone else of chronic illness?” Gordon asked. Alya shook her head. 

“So you came here with the intention of what… Using Ladybug, aka, Guardian Angel, to bring back all those you and your partner killed?” Gordon looked skeptical. 

“you can wish for anything with the jewel of creation and destruction. Even for life to be breathed into the dead” Alya said clearly. 

“Is that a fact?” Gordon turned to Red Hood. He shook his head. 

“The consequences of making any wish can be destructive. A wish for peace might kill half the population, simply because less population means more resources. The law of Alchemy states that everything must remain in balance. To bring back a dear friend, you have to lose another dear friend first. To bring back 14 innocent people, 14 other innocent people would have to die. From my understanding, they planned on not only resurrecting the people they themselves killed, but also the classmate who committed suicide. On top of this, they also planned on creating a "perfect world” in conjunction, to make sure no conflict happened in their class specifically" Red Hood played the video on his phone of Nino explaining this before he was caught. Gordon frowned. He glared at Alya, who was pale. They couldn’t bring them back. They couldn’t bring any of them back and that meant Marinette was dead and she’d never be able to see or hug or apologize or…. Alya puked on the floor. The realization that even limitless power was in fact limited. Gordon nodded and told an officer to put her in a cell and call Paris. 

When Adrien awoke, he was cuffed to a hospital bed, his head was bandaged down past the right eye, and his torso was strapped to the bed with a warm blanket. In the room with him were Wonder Woman and Batman. He frowned. 

“Mr Agreste. Do you know where you are?” Wonder Woman asked. He tried to shake his head but he opened his mouth anyways. 

“Gotham City” his voice was scratchy and dry. 

“Do you know why we are here?" 

"I tried to get the Ladybug and Cat mirculouses.”

“Why?" 

"Because Ladybug should’ve healed Marinette. My Princess should be here with me. Ladybug was jealous and let her die and sent Lila away and took my ring and my family from me! Everything was ruined because of her!” Adrien shouted. Batman looked at him. This was going to be a long day.

“Tell us what happened from your perspective?”

And Adrien did.


	7. Life Goes On

Bruce stood at his window, overlooking the rose garden in the backyard, gathered with everyone except Damian and Marinette. There was a strong sense of anticipation in the room. As Bruce looked about him, some of the Kwami zooming around the room, he thought back to the events three years ago. Guardian Angel officially joining the Justice League, the great battle of Gotham, and returning of teenage renegade to Paris. He still got chills when he remembered Agreste’s statement of events.

The room was quiet for a moment as Adrien tried to think of where to begin. He stared at the ceiling.

“It starts a year before Hawkmoth first appeared. My mother and father and I lived happily together, father was busy at work, but we were all very happy. Sometimes I would hear them shouting, but it would turn to moans not long after, and father told me when I asked once that mother just needed to be loved properly. Then mother disappeared and father searched furiously for her, until eventually she was proclaimed as dead. Father became distant, and I rarely ever saw him except if I messed up or something. So I tried to be the perfect son, but I wanted some freedom, friends, to fall in love like all my animes. I snuck out of the mansion to go to school, and almost made it in when I saw this old man needed help. So my father’s assistant caught me and brought me home. But there was a box on my table, and with it I became Chat Noir. I thought Ladybug was my soulmate because how could we not be? Then my father agreed to let me go to school and I became friends with Marinette and Nino and Alya and my childhood friend Chloe was there too. It was perfect. I was a hero, I had friends, I had a soulmate. But Ladybug was always turning me down, and she was allowed to choose more heroes, and she refused to have any fun. And then Lila Rossi transferred and she liked to tell tall tales, but she wasn’t hurting anyone. Marinette was just being too hard on her, too stubborn. If she’d just let it go, just played nice, she would’ve been fine. Lila would eventually get tired of it all. I always had her back and she knew that. Her 14th birthday, Lila told me about Marinette’s love for me. Marinette was supposed to wait for me and we would have a magical night. I found her a ways away, and thought she’d just gotten sick of waiting for me, but I made it up to her and brought her home. But two nights later, the police swarmed our home, and were shouting about my father being Hawkmoth, which is impossible, because he was Akumatized! And I was taken in, because Chat Noir was being accused of rape! And Nathalie was supposed to be Mayura! And none of that made sense! So I tried to have them find Marinette, because she would be able to clear everything up. Three days went by when Ladybug showed up, carrying Marinette’s dead body to the police. She had a video of my classmates hurting her, hurting Marinette. And she had the power to fix her and didn’t. I was devastated. Then Marinette appeared to me. She was as real and bright as ever. She wanted to be with me. And I wanted to create the perfect world for her. Our class would all be friends, Chloe would be nice to her, and Lila would be her best friend, and Marinette would be Ladybug instead. My mother and father would be happy and together forever, and they would love Marinette just as much as me. Marinette was the one who planned everything and told me what to do. But I knew no one else saw her. But I did as she told me, because once I made my wish, nothing bad would ever happen to her again” Adrien spoke with passion in his voice, but his eyes never met theirs.

Batman and Wonder Woman’s eyes met. This wasn’t their first rodeo with the mentally unstable.

“Do you feel any remorse at all, knowing that those lives you took will forever remain dead?” Wonder Woman asked.

“Ladybug is the only one guilty. She could bring them back if she wanted to.”

“The ladybug powers do not work like that. My mother was once a Ladybug. She needs to absorb the negative energy of a magical attack, like with the Demon, and she uses that to rebuild the world. She can not create or bring back life or heal, because when she does it, she is merely absorbing the darkness from their bodies. Otherwise there would never have been ill in Paris. The dead would have risen everyday. Can you not see that? ” Wonder Woman asked.

“ Marinette would never lie to me” Adrien stated. He was looking to his side, smiling softly. Wonder Woman was especially concerned that he saw her still, even while under the influence of the rope of Hestia, which should break through every delusion.

The interview concluded, it was decided that Adrien Agreste would serve life in a French Asylum, without bail. When his family was contacted, his father was emotionless, his mother just disinterested. She’d always known he’d be just like his father.

Bruce came back to the present when Damian and Marinette walked onto the scene below. Her 18th birthday was just around the corner, and they were planning a family party for her in that very garden. But Damian had asked for a sem-private moment with her. Knowing they’d all find a way to spy on them anyways, he’d told them to just watch from the office. Damian had grown up a lot since meeting Marinette. He was still chaos impersonate, still the calm before the storm and determined beyond anyone else his age. But he was also considerate of other people, he didn’t lash out as quickly or as violently. He took the time to get to know his brothers better, and he showed his gratitude to them in small ways, like remembering their favorite bands and buying concert tickets, or simply sitting with them after a rough mission instead of dealing with it alone. The family was closer than ever before. So Bruce smiled with hope when he watched Damian kneel in the grass.

Dick watched as Damian walked into the garden, speaking quietly with his “Angel”. She’d grown into a beautiful young woman, her scars had healed, both physically and emotionally with the constant presence of Damian at her side. He proved his love to her with every word he spoke, with every comforting hug. He truly always had her back and there was nothing the youngest Wayne wouldn’t do for Marinette. Even forgiving Raven.

Nightwing and StarFire took Raven back to Star City, where they had built a special cage built in case Trigon ever sent his sons to do his bidding. Placing Raven inside, Nightwing paced. He still remembered Guardian Angel’s expression as she fell, thinking that it had been Damian. More than that, he remembered watching as Raven ruthlessly ripped the earrings out of Marinette’s ears, or the sick smirk on her face. He paced some more, ignoring Korri’s worried looks. When Raven started stirring he walked in, expression cold as he stared down at the petite girl. Once, he would have been happy to call her sister. Now though.

“What happened?” Raven asked, looking at the cage around her. His frown deepened.

“How dare you?” he hissed, the snake miraculous still gleaming around his wrist. He was usually the one to enforce the “no kill” rule the strongest amongst the family, but he could feel the temptation to strongly. Raven furrowed her brow, trying to remember what had happened to get her locked up, but could remember nothing past Damian walking into the ballroom with a girl on his arm. She’d remembered feeling slightly crushed that her crush seemed to have moved on, but the next she knew, everything went dark. Now here she was, in a cage to hold her brothers. What had she done?

“What…. What have I done?” Raven asked, her voice pleading. Nightwing felt his anger rise even more. How dare she sit there, looking innocent. He couldn’t believe anything she said or did, because really, who would turn so willingly on her teammates. Who would abandon their friends in mid battle and turn around and kill one of them. He didn’t believe the innocent act at all. Korri placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to step in front of him but he wouldn’t budge, glaring with all the hatred an older brother could feel.

“Damian had just walked in with the new member of the Justice League. I was sad, because… Well, you know I have a crush on him. But then things got dark, and I heard someone saying something, like a whisper. I thought I passed out. What happened?” she asked again. Nightwing was still not buying it. He felt his hackles rise, wanting to get her to confess.

“And you just expect me to believe that?” he growled, his muscles tensing.

“Nightwing! We know how powerful Trigon is! He only just escaped, we have no idea if he left a mark on her!”

“we also know that Raven is more powerful than that. She has him captured. Is it so wrong to believe she just snapped?” Nightwing snapped at Korri, the image would forever haunt him.

“What?” Raven was so confused. Korri wasn’t much better, since she had been on the other side of the battle, and with second chance, no one else remembered anyways. Perhaps we should call WonderWoman here" Korri suggested calmly, trying to settle the tension in Nightwing’s shoulders. Nightwing wanted to just throw the cage into a deep hole and never look at her again.

A Portal suddenly opened behind them and Robin stepped through. His fox transformation had long worn off, but Nightwing knew he still had it on him. However, instead of turning on Raven and tearing into her, he turned to Nightwing and held out his hand.

“Guardian Angel I’d worried about your emotional stability right now. Hand over the Miraculous before you do something that will haunt you as much as whichever image makes you so angry now. The ability to fix or change a situation can corrupt even the purest of souls, and you haven’t been tested to be a permanent holder.” Nightwing didn’t even twitch, keeping his arms crossed and his face in a scowl. Nobody would even remember if he slid his finger over the bracelet.

“Please Richard. You do not want that on your conscience” Robin pleaded, his face softening into understanding. And really, who other than Robin, and maybe Red Hood, would understand better? He sighed and reached for the bracelet.

“Transform me” he mumbled, and a blue light went up under his other suit. Sass flew right through the portal, a blue blur trying to get away. Nightwings shoulders hunched. He was no better than that blonde idiot and his friends. Robin grasped the Miraculous and reached his other hand on his shoulder. “No one knows what you do about this battle, Richard, though Guardian Angel has a guess she won’t share. What you saw was one outcome, one possibility of many, and you prevented the worst. But you are not all knowing about people, and the Justice League has wrongfully confronted Raven once before. Let Wonder Woman question Raven, and take comfort that no matter her answer, it is the truth.”

“ when did you get so wise, baby bird?” Nightwing whispered, finally relaxing his posture completely.

“ Angel told me most of what I should say before I came through. The rest…. I’ve just had some good influences in my life, I guess”

Nightwing smiled and Robin stepped back through the portal to Gotham. A few minutes later, Wonder Woman stepped through her own.

“Agreste?” Nightwing asked.

“Still in surgery. Oracle said she’d monitor him for me and send me back in time for the questioning. Now, Guardian said you needed my help?” Korri nodded.

“I’m afraid we can’t just accept her word at face value right now. We have no idea if what she’s saying is true.”

Wonder Woman nodded and sent the Rope of Hestia through a breathing hole. Raven easily picked it up and wrapped it around her wrist multiple times and looked up.

“ What is the last thing you remember?” Wonder Woman asked.

“ We were all in the ballroom, and Damian came walking in with the new girl. He looked so calm and happy and kept staring at her. I was choking a little bit. I’d had a crush on him since he first came to the tower, and… I just wanted to get some fresh air. I couldn’t breathe properly and my head was starting to hurt. I kept hearing whispering, and I just thought some of the guests had noticed, but then I just blacked out. I came to and I was in this box” Raven stated, looking concerned. Oracle decided to find footage of the ballroom.

“Found her. Here come Damian and… Raven just grabbed her head. She is shaking it slightly. I’m picking up a rusty red glow from the jewel in her head. And she’s back. She changes her outfit around the time Wonder Woman starts talking. But otherwise, there’s no change” Oracle dictates over the comms.

“Can you please send Guardian through? We may need her to look at the jewel and drain it” Wonder Woman says. The comms are quiet for a while, before finally another portal opens. Guardian Angel comes through, followed closely by Robin with his katana drawn. Raven groans slightly and reaches for her head.

“Did I steal your sword?” she asks, her eyes wide and worried. Robin merely nodded before looking at his Angel. She takes a deep breath before walking up to the box.

“Please stand as close to grass as possible” she tells Raven. She’s weary, and something is telling her not to, but Wonder Woman gives her a firm tug of the rope, and glares at her in warning. She crawls over to glass and shakily stands up, placing her forehead to the hold not with the rope through it. Guardian Angel raises her hand and places it over the glass on her side, and immediately a black aura tries to lash out at her. She flies back against the far wall, and Robin and Nightwing become defensive.

“NO! Get out of my head!” Raven yells, falling back to the ground and clutching her ears. Guardian Angel is on her feet immediately and rushes back, breaking the glass container. She clutches her hands around Ravens and whispers in an ancient tongue, the Guardian Language. A pink glow emanates from their forms and when it disappears, Guardian Angel is passed out, and Raven is barely hanging onto consciousness. The crystal that once held her father, a black diamond in her head, is now pink.

“He’s gone!” Raven manages to whisper out, before passing out as well. Robin rushes to his Angel’s side and quickly brings her through the portal back to Gotham, while the others all stare at Raven. Now what do they do?

Dick remembered how Raven struggled with her magic after that. It took her months to gain back control, as her father had been slowly corrupting it, and with it, Raven as well. But Marinette never held her in contempt, like Dick had. She forgave her and helped her heal, and Damian meditated with her to help as well. Raven was now Marinette’s best friend, and she wholly agreed that she was better off with Tim, who had been by her side, analyzing her magic capability. Their family had grown so strong from her forgiving and kind nature. He smiled as he tuned back in to see Marinette throw herself into Damian’s embrace.

Tim was so happy, watching his little brother and his future-sister-in-law on the lawn. The past three years had gone by quickly, with Damian growing up into a strong, pure force for good. He looked down to Raven’s smiling face, and knew she felt nothing but content, watching her sister in all but blood be so overcome with joy. Three years ago, no one would’ve thought that this would be the outcome after the exhausting battle and aftermath.

The destruction cleaned up, the villains in jail, Raven cleansed and only waiting to hear Agreste’s story, Timothy couldn’t quite rest yet. He went to the detention centre and asked to see the Parisian boys, to hear what they had to say. He’d come alone, but saw no reason for them to lie or try to fight. He still had his transformation going under his Red Robin suit, so he was confident he’d be okay.

“Max Kantê and Nino Lahiffe. I’ve come to take your statements” he said, funnelling as much authority as he could into his statements. The boys’ heads snapped up from where they sat. Max gulped audibly, while Nino just looked exhausted. He nodded and sat up a bit.

“Why did you come to Gotham?”

“I wanted to warn Marinette. Max wasn’t given a choice” Nino stated calmly.

“I believe from video evidence that Marinette is dead” Red Robin said. Nino just shook his head.

“I think a part of me always knew, but I just didn’t want to think, at first, that one of my best friends would go swinging into danger like that. Then, after Lila joined, it was just easier to believe her. And she hated Marinette, so she couldn’t be Ladybug. Ladybug carrying Marinette’s body into the police station would’ve fooled most, but I just always had a feeling she wasn’t completely gone. I just… Assumed I guess… ” Nino tapered off, looking at Red Robin hopefully.

“ Marinette Dupain-Cheng is dead” he shook his head. Nino’s face fell and he looked at his hands. He shook and cried. He’d been against Alya’s plan to attack Marinette, and hadn’t been there. Maybe he could’ve stopped it. He thought that maybe that was why he’d come. A second chance to be a real friend.

Max looked lifelessly at Red Robin.

“My family was murdered by Adrien. I… I have nowhere to go.” He finally managed to choke out. Red Robin nodded, aware of the atrocities committed in Paris.

“What do you want to happen? You both were the reason the Justice League was able to mobilize so quickly. From evidence gathered and statements from Cesaire, we were able to gather that neither of you ever did anything against the law or of your own free will. Kantê, as you said, your family is unable to take guardianship of you, and if you choose to return to Paris, you may be held in contempt from the public. Lahiffe, your family has been made aware, but they are currently speaking to Social Services, as they’re scared for their other son’s health and safety” Tim said.

“And if we stay here?” Max asked while Nino broke into a fresh wave of tears. He’d never be allowed near Chris again.

“… The Teen Titans have long asked for an Oracle of their own…” Red Robin tapered off, leaving the rest for them to interpret and think about,“ you’d be under house arrest for a while at least. But… You could do some real good there.”

Max nodded after a moment and Nino did too, still too emotionally distraught to do much else. Red Robin smiled.

“You’ll be moved to your new residence in a couple of weeks,” he said, and turned and left as abruptly as he came.

Max Kantê, now known as Le Donnèes and Nino Lahiffe, now Sécurise, became an integral part of Teen Titan operations and training, often conferring with Oracle on large Justice League missions. It was easy to say that they’d become amazing heroes. Nino and Max were in Paris now, in fact, for the first time since leaving. Nino had earned his right to see his brother again, but didn’t want to go alone. They’d been quite emotional when Marinette came to them the first time, and they’d become close friends once again. Things were far from perfect in the world, but right this moment, nothing at all could ruin this.


End file.
